{"ID":2868062,"CreatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.16932","arxiv_id":"2509.16932","title":"Understanding Digital Gifting Through Messengers Across Cultures: A Comparative Study of University Students in South Korea, China, and Japan","abstract":"Digital gift-giving has become a key means of maintaining social relationships, but most existing research has focused on gifting within global e-commerce or social media platforms. The emergence of messenger-based gifting in East Asia, where Korea, Japan, and China each have distinct and deeply rooted gifting traditions, remains underexplored. This study examines how in-app gifting services on the most widely used messaging platforms in South Korea (KakaoTalk), Japan (LINE), and China (WeChat) reflect and reshape culturally embedded gifting practices. Through semi-structured interviews with 26 university students, we found that KakaoTalk facilitates frequent, informal exchanges aligned with Korea's emphasis on broad social ties; LINE supports selective and carefully presented gifts, reflecting Japanese norms of formality and sincerity; and WeChat's Hongbao feature enables playful, communal monetary exchanges largely detached from traditional, obligation-driven gifting. Drawing on these findings, we propose the Channel-Oriented Gifting Cycle model, which extends classical gift-exchange theory by showing that the choice of gifting platform is not merely logistical but a culturally meaningful part of the gifting process. We conclude with design implications for culturally sensitive digital gifting services.","short_abstract":"Digital gift-giving has become a key means of maintaining social relationships, but most existing research has focused on gifting within global e-commerce or social media platforms. The emergence of messenger-based gifting in East Asia, where Korea, Japan, and China each have distinct and deeply rooted gifting traditio...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.16932","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.16932v1","authors":"[\"YeEun Lee\",\"Dakyeom Ahn\",\"JungYu Kwon\",\"SeungJi Lee\",\"Hajin Lim\"]","published":"2025-09-21T05:33:48Z","proceeding":"cs.HC","tasks":"[\"cs.HC\"]","methods":"[]","has_code":false}